618 GLACIAL FORMATIONS OF ERIE AND OHIO BASINS. 



Grould has published the results of his studies in a Berea newspaper,' 

 showing in some detail the nature of the evidence bearing upon the 

 question of change of drainage and the manner in which the evidence was 

 brought to his notice. Some of the interesting features along the line of 

 the ancient valley he describes as follows: 



Extending along the whole eastern border of this village [Berea], and distant 

 from it about a mile, is a chain of what were at one time swamps and small, shallow 

 ponds. These have within a few j'ears been drained, cleared, and brought under 

 cultivation, and to-day are the somewhat famous onion fields of Berea. There are 

 seven of these swamps, each distinct from the other, the divisions in each case being 

 ridges of clay loam of different heights, some being not more than 10 feet and 

 others 20, 30, and in one case nearly iO feet. The general direction of this chain of 

 swamps is nearly north and south; the direction of the dividing ridges is northeast 

 to southwest. The soil along the crest of these ridges is very noticeably sandy, 

 while the general country everywhere east and west of them has a stiff clay soil. 

 iWith the exception of one swamp the drainage is from one to the other through 

 gaps in these ridges, which have been broken through by the contained water in 

 each, into a general reservoir near the center of a swamp much larger than all the 

 others combined. This reservoir or pond is Lake Abram, and the reclaimed marsh 

 around this pond and also the detached marshes constitute the Berea onion district. 

 This chain of marshes is 2k miles in length. 



The cross ridges mentioned by Grould, which separate the basins, are 

 composed in the main of ordinary till, though there are places where 

 gravel may be obtained from them. They are evidently glacial deposits, 

 and the basins also date from the glacial period. One basin was observed 

 about one-half mile soutli of Lake Abram, which is situated on the slope 

 nearly up to the top of the bluff-like border of the trough. At the southern 

 end of the chain of swamps this old channel is coiupletely filled, so that its 

 altitude is fully as high as the bordering plain and slightly above the level 

 of the bluff's of the present stream. The stream, no doubt has taken its- 

 present course because of lower altitude, or at least of less obstruction to 

 its course there than along its old route. It is not improbable that the 

 peculiar features which this old valley displays wei'e present in other deeply 

 filled valleys of the drift-covered region, especially those in hilly districts, 

 and may represent the form of channel in which many of the post- 

 glacial streams began their work. It is certain that many of the channels 

 occupied by postglacial streams, when following their preglacial courses, 



'The Berea Advertiser, April 16 and 30, 1886. 



